The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

The newer cover of this book has a picture of Kate Winslet on the front. It's a scene picture from the movie that came out based on The Reader. The copy that I found in a used book store and bought had Kate Winslet on the cover. As I was reading, I kept thinking to myself. . . "I know this story." I'd never seen the movie and couldn't remember exactly how the story ended but I knew for a fact that I knew the story. After several chapters, I Googled The Reader. (Because that's how all great mysteries are solved. You Google it.) That is how I figured out that I had once read this book way back when it had its original cover. However, I am so very glad that I re-read it. I don't think that I had a full appreciation of the story the first time around. Actually, I may not have even finished it.

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The story starts post-Holocaust in Germany and follows Michael Berg, a sickly 15 year-old, as he grows into a man. He meets Hanna Schmitz, a woman in her mid-thirties with average looks. They began a passionate love affair. It's unclear how long that affair lasts, however, the affects of it last Michael's lifetime. He will forever compare every relationship to this one and every woman to Hanna.

After some time has passed and Michael is older his life will once again intersect with Hanna's. The meet again when Hanna is accused of war crimes. From there he keeps Hanna in his life, but from a safe distance.

The love story and the stories from the war are intertwined in the book. Its impossible to understand the story in it's entirety without having some understanding of the Holocaust. Because of that, I found myself "Googling" the Holocaust multiple times while reading the The Reader. I had to know. I had to know why; usually ending up in tears and sickened, but it was better that way. I liked the love story. The message I got is that we love people for who they are at that time in our lives. It almost doesn't matter what they've done in their past. We can try to make it matter, but we feel how we feel.